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Many years ago the Crow nation was very large and our people were favorites of the Sun. One time, the Sun came down and took a Crow woman as his wife. They had a handsome lodge, where the woman lived and was greatly respected by the tribe. Occasionally the Sun himself came down to live with her for awhile.
Because of his love for his wife, the Sun blessed her people with an abundance of food, corn, buffalo, and also with success over their enemies. But there was a fool-dog among the Crow, a man with an evil spirit. He roamed about the village doing harm to anyone he could harm. No one punished him because he was a fool-dog and could not help it.
Once when the Sun was away from his earth lodge, the fool-dog visited it and abused his wife. She bore her shame in silence, but prepared herself for death. When the Sun came to see her, she told him what the fool-dog had done and then put herself to death before her husband's eyes.
The Sun was so angry he determined to destroy the entire Crow nation. He caused their corn to fail, he prevented buffalo from coming into Crow country, and he gave their enemies power over them. The Crows were forced to become wanderers of the earth seeking a new home where they might rest and find food.
For a long time they wandered, suffering greatly from hunger. But when they were in danger of total destruction from starvation, White Wolf, a servant of the Sun, took pity on them and made up his mind to save them.
"Make a pile of rice stalks and other fuel," White Wolf told them. "Make little pellets of meat and corn meal and throw them upon the pile, one by one, until the pile bursts into flame. Ten buffalo will rise from the midst of the flames. You must kill them all. If one escapes, he will surely go and tell the Sun what you have done. Then there will be no hope for you."
The people were distressed by these orders. Although they could find enough meat for the sacrifice, they thought there was not so much as a kernel of corn left among them. But at last they learned that an old woman had preserved a small amount of corn for seed. She gladly contributed it to save her people from starvation.
They made tel pellets of meat and corn meal; they made a pile of rice stalks and other fuel. The best hunters stood by with their bows drawn while the pellets were thrown upon the pile, one by one. There was no flame after the first pellet, none after the second, none after the third or even the ninth. The Crow people were almost in despair.
But when the tenth pellet was thrown onto the pile, a bright flame burst forth and ten fat buffalo gallped out of the midst of the flames. The hunters let fly a shower of arrows, the ten buffalo fell dead. The women prepared a big feast amid rejoicing throughout the camp.
At the suggestion of White Wolf, the people repeated the charm. The next flames produced twenty buffalo, and the next flame thirty, and so on until the number had reached ninety buffalo. The hunters killed all of these and the people had an abundance of foold.
In those days there were no firearms or horses. It was difficult for men on foot, using bows and arrows, to kill so many animals. The number troubled all the people, they feared that one might escape and cause the Sun to show his anger against them again. Sure enough, when the number of buffalo galloping out of the flames reached 100, one animal did escape. He ran directly to the Sun and told him the whole story.
The Sun was very angry. But he was more angry with White Wolf than with the Crows, who had showed themselves to be brave and resourceful in times of trouble. "Go to the Crow people." The Sun told White Wolf. "Tell them that I shall no longer work to destroy them. But, you yourself will forever more be a vagabond and an outcast among the animals of the world."
Wolf has been a loner and a vagabond to this day, and Sun has never again taken a wife among the Crow women.
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